Behind the Masks...
by Cali
Summary: Forbidden love


Once upon a Halloween...

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement.  
Rumor was, the professors had something special in store for them this Halloween.   
Hermione seriously didn't care. She was sick and tired of whatever it was already. Lavender, Parvati, and the other girls in her dorm had been talking about it all week. It didn't matter what it was going to be: a ball, a party, a trip, anything. Nothing would surprise her.  
Not after hearing Parvati's very hormonal idea of what it was going to be. Hermione shrugged. That picture was not a thing she wanted in her head.  
"Eherm...could I have everyone's attention?" Professor Dumbledore's voice sounded through the hall. Everyone fell silent.  
"Thank you. Now, as you all probably know, there is going to be a special event on Halloween this year. Can anyone guess what it is?" There was a funny look in his eyes.  
"A ball?" Cho Chang's voice was hopeful. Hermione snorted. How that girl got into Rawenclaw was a mystery. All that was on her mind (if she had one) was boys and clothes.  
"A contest?" A Hufflepuff suggested.  
"A Death Eater get-together?" Fred Weasley shouted, receiving dirty looks from the Slytherins.   
Dumbledore shook his head and continued.  
"This year, we will have a carneval, costume ball here at Hogwarts. You can dress up as anything you like, as long as you use a mask or change your appearance. This is so people from different houses can get together for at lest one night. The carneval will take place on October 31st, five days from now. That would be all." He sat down.  
Hermione sighed. Just what she needed. 

Four days later, Hermione still didn't know what to dress up as. She had searched her drawers, her closets, gone to Hogsmeade several times. Nothing. When lessons where over, she, Harry and Ron headed towards their common room. Halfway there, they were stopped by Ginny, who was carrying her cloak.  
"Hi Ron, Hermione...erm...Harry." she said, blushing furiously at the sight of Harry. Hermione frowned. Ok, it was cute when Ginny was a first year, but come on, the girl was 14 now. Her little crush on Harry had grown big and embarrassing.  
"So, lil' sis, where are you going in such a hurry?" Ron snickered. He shared Hermione's opinion on this.  
"Hogsmeade, of course! McGonnogall gave permission for the whole week, remember?"  
An extra Hogsmeade day? Inside Hermione's head, a small hope grew.  
"Hang on a minute, I'll go get my cloak, and some money!"  
As she ran upstairs, she knew Harry and Ron were snickering behind her back.

Even though it was only October, it was biting cold outside. As Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Ginny walked the high street of Hogsmeade for what had to be the seventh time, an icy wind ruffled their hair, and made Hermione wish she had a scarf.  
"Come on, Hermione, can't we go back now? We've been through every single store now, and neither of them had any dresses. Please?" Harry's lips were blue by the cold.  
"Oh, Harry, just ONE more round, please?"  
"Fine. Take another round. We, on the other hand, are going to the *three broomsticks*, Ok?"  
Hermione sighed, but agreed. It was getting dark, and the shop owners were litting lights.  
She surveyed the street once again.  
There had to be a shop that stocked costumes, there had to be!  
And at that moment, she saw the small shop located in the far end of the street. Didn't the sign read *carneval for all!*?

Hermione's senses had a field day when she entered the shop. There were colours everywhere, soft music coming from a radio, and heavy scents coming from the fireplace. Next to the entrance, there was a big, ancient mirror made in willow.   
She looked around, astounded. How come she hadn't notice this shop before?  
"Can I help you, dear?"  
Hermione turned, and looked straight into a pair of brilliant purple eyes. They belonged to an exotic-looking woman, with hair as purple as her eyes.  
"Y-eys, I need a costume." Hermione stuttered, taken back with the strange look in the woman's eyes.  
"Ah, the carneval at Hogwarts, I've heard about it. A young gentleman visited me earlier this week, excited about it." The woman started searching the room, not waiting for Hermione to tell her what she was looking for.  
"S-so, is this your shop?" Hermione asked, still nervous.  
"Yes, inherited it from my mother I did, when she was too old to work. Serena's Carneval for all; costumes and a little extra. AH! Here we are, dear!" she said, handing Hermione a beautiful, scarlet, gown with golden embroidings. It seemed to be enchanted, because it was glittering all over, and didn't wrinkle.  
Hermione slipped the beautiful dress over her school robes, and looked into the mirror.  
Her reflection smiled back at her.  
"Ah, my dear, you look lovely!" the woman exclaimed. "now, your hair..."   
She swished her wand, Hermione's bushy hair softened, and fell in soft ringlets down her shoulders.   
"Oh my god..."   
"Not God, darling, just a little magic. Here, your mask."  
The mask was made of silk, yet it was firm and solid. Around the eyes of the mask there were painted phoenix wings, they too in scarlet and gold. There was holes for eyes and lips. The face features were incredibly alike Hermione's own.  
"Yes, just like I thought, the Juliet suit fits you perfectly."  
"How much will that be?" Hermione turned to the woman.  
"Let me see...a costume and a little extra..that'll be 10 galleons."

As Hermione was on her way out of the shop, the woman called her back.  
"Young Juliet!" Hermione turned. "The young gentleman...he bought the Romeo suit. Maybe you will find love at the carneval?"  
The next night, Hermione was one of the last ones to go down to the Great Hall, as she didn't want anybody to see her costume. When she looked in the mirror, the gown seemed even more beautiful than when she bought it. She put on the mask.  
Time to go.

The Great Hall was especially beautiful this evening.  
It wasn't just the decorations, but also the atmosphere.  
Everywhere, there were people in pretty costumes, all so different from their ordinary, black robes. Even the teachers (or that would say, some of them) had dressed up. Up at the High table, Lupin was sitting with professor Sinistra, both of them dressed in black student robes.   
Professor Dumbledore was wearing, to Snape's annoyance, a green dress robe, a red purse in his hand. McGonnogall was nowhere to be seen, but Hermione swore she saw a tabby cat lurking around a gang of Slytherins.  
Now, Hermione regretted coming down without Harry and Ron. How would she find them.  
Of course, she could look for them by going after their hair, but then again, they probably wore perukes. 

Dumbledore stood up.  
"Now, I declare this carneval open. So let get some music!" He clapped his hands, and out of nowhere, a quartet of ghosts (led by professor Binns) appeared, playing a minuet.  
"Now, girls on one side of the hall, boys on the other! Come on!"   
Hermione hurried over to the far end of the hall, noy really knowing what to do, and found herself between Morgana the Sorceress, and Tinkerbell from Peter Pan.   
"Now, all do as professors Lupin and Sinistra, come on!"  
Following the teachers example, Hermione and the other girls started walking towards the middle of the hall, the boys the same. They met at the middle, and the dance begun.   
Hermione looked at the boy she was dancing with. He was wearing an old fashioned, Italian costume in green and silver, and a green hat covered his hair. In contrary to her mask, which had phoenix feathers on it, his mask had snakes around the eyes.   
His eyes were silvery grey, not cold, but warm  
"What house are you in?" she asked, surprised to find her voice different than usual. The mask seemed to be altering it.  
He answered, his voice serious. "Tonight there are no houses. Tonight there is only music, dance and the new moon."  
Hermione didn't know what to reply.   
"That was deep." was all she could stutter.  
When it was time to change dance partners, he kissed her hand.  
"Till we meet again, Juliet."

Lupin turned, and took the hand of the girl standing next to him.  
He looked at her, and even though she was wearing a mask, he recognised her.  
"Hermione?"  
The girl glanced at him, and he was sure she smiled beneath the mask.  
"How did you recognise me?" she asked quietly.  
"Your scent."  
She looked at him, puzzled.  
"It's a werewolf thing."  
"I see."  
Lupin looked down her costume.  
"Juliet of Verona? Where did you get it?"  
"I bought it from a lady down in Hogsmeade. Funny looking really. Purple hair and-"  
"-purple eyes." Lupin finished her line. "Her name is Serena Lilac. We went to school together. Weird thing, she was."  
"Still is. She seemed to think I would meet my true love on this carneval."  
"Well, I did see a Romeo in a green and silver costume over there."  
Hermione blushed under her mask.

When Hermione was done dancing with Lupin, she sat down at one of tables, next to what sounded like Angelina and Fred. They sat with their faces away from her, so she wasn't sure. When the boy (dressed as Harry) left for drinks, Hermione leaned over.  
"Angelina?"  
The girl didn't turn, but answered.  
"Lavender?  
"Hermione gave a shudder.  
"No, Hermione."  
"Hermione? Your costume is beautiful!"  
"Thanks." Hermione muttered, and looked at Angelina's mask. Her own face smiled back.   
Angelina seemed to notice what Hermione was staring at.  
"Oh! Hermione, I'm... it was Fred, he thought it would be funny to, you know, dress like you and make out, so that everybody would think you and Harry...and, well, Fred is kind of, erm, a good kisser, so I ...if you don't like it, I can change."  
"No, keep it on. Believe me, it's not the most morbid thing I've seen today."  
"Oh?"  
Hermione pointed towards a girl in a green dress and green contacts in the far end of the room.  
"Is that-"  
"-Ginny Weasley, dressed up as Lily Potter."  
"Don't tell me that she's trying to hit on Harry dressed in that?"  
"Yup. And that, exactly 14 years after Lily died."  
"Gross."

After her short break, Hermione got back on the dance floor.   
She spotted many of her friends, and was astounded by how little they had cared about finding costumes. Dean had dressed up as a muggle soccerplayer, Ron as an ordinary muggle, but Harry's costume had to be the lamest one yet: all he'd done, was putting on a pair of brown contact lenses, and carried a quaffle of under his arm. It was obvious to Hermione who he tried to look like: his father. To everyone else, it looked like he was to lazy to get a costume. Lavender, Parvati and Padma had dressed up as *the weird sisters*, and Neville had grown a pair of vampire fangs.   
But no sign of the boy in the Romeo-costume.

The hours passed like seconds, and by no time, it was time for last dance.   
"May I have this one, fair lady?"  
Hermione turned, and looked into a pair of familiar, silvery eyes. The boy was bowing, his hand outstretched.   
"Of course, mylord."  
She took his hand, and he kissed it, before straightening up.  
"Now, we dance."  
And so they did.  
They danced for what had to be minutes, but felt like eternity. It was like everyone else disappeared, and only they were left, dancing.   
She looked into his eyes, and got lost in them.  
They were so special, so unique.  
And he was like no one she'd ever met.   
He made her talk.  
He made her smile.  
He made her laugh.

And then, when she had forgotten the world around her, her thoughts were interrupted by a loved, but at this moment, not welcome, voice.  
"However much we all enjoy this, it is time to say goodnight, and return to our houses."  
Hermione and the boy stopped dancing.  
"I guess this is it, then."  
The boy nodded, and then, he did the one thing Hermione didn't expect him to do.  
He kissed her.   
Not a long, nor intense kiss.  
But a small, mild kiss on her cheek.   
She could feel it through the thin mask, warm and soft.  
Then, they broke apart, and went separate ways.

As the girl in the Juliet costume disappeared in the crowd, Draco slowly lowered his mask.  
He'd never know who she was, and they would probably never talk again.  
But in this one night, she had seen the real him.  
Because only behind the mask, he could show his real face.  
And only when pretending he was someone else, he could be himself.  
For he was Draco Malfoy- the one person with the two faces.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, Serena and her shop. However, Serena's weird accent belongs to Yoda. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet belong to Shakespeare, the town of Verona to Italy, and all Hogwarts pupils, teachers, animals and so on to the almighty JK Rowling. I belong to the little voices in my head.


End file.
